US, Canada Issue Special Stamps for Chanukah

The United States and Canada have issued stamps ahead of the eight-day Hanukkah festival, which begins Tuesday night on December 20

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Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu, 28/11/11 18:08

New Chanukah stamps

Israel news photo

The United States and Canada have issued stamps ahead of the eight-day Chanukah festival, which begins Tuesday night on December 20.

“This year, for the first time, all of our holiday stamps are being issued as ‘forever’ stamps,” said Stephen Kearney, executive director of Stamp Services for the U.S. Postal Service and quoted by the San Francisco JWeekly.

“These popular stamps rank among our best sellers, with 1.3 billion being sold from October to December last year. That amounts to one in every 10 stamps we sell for the year,” he added.

The postal service printed 25 million Chanukah stamps this year, following three previous stamps for the holiday since 1996, when the stamp featured a menorah.

This year’s stamp shows eight shapes behind the letters of "Hanukkah," as it is often spelled in the Diaspora, symbolizing the eight days and nights of the celebration of the “Holiday of Lights.”

Each letter in the design is tilted to imitate the spinning of the traditional dreidil.

Canada Post has issued two stamps, one showing two dreidils with the “Happy Hanukkah” greeting printed in both French and English, the two official languages of the country. The other stamp depicts a lit menorah of candles lit every night during the holiday.

Customers bought so many of the stamps that Canada Post printed more as the holiday approaches.